Purfleet Primary "improving" say Ofsted (From Thurrock Gazette)

Purfleet Primary "improving" say Ofsted

4:37pm Monday 24th September 2012 in News

A THURROCK primary school served with a notice to improve last December has been told that it is making satisfactory progress.

Purfleet Primary School had a monitoring inspection in July, after Ofsted found the school to be inadequate in its overall effectiveness last year.

The December 2011 Ofsted report said that the school needed to raise pupils attainment in all subjects, particularly in English and Maths, and that inadequate teaching needed to be eliminated by December 2012.

But the check-up found the school to be improving overall, despite some classes having three different teachers in less than seven months as the school struggled with staffing.

Inspector Susan Vale told the school that the quality of teaching is improving, as is pupils achievement in reading, writing and mathematics, although the standards are still below the national average.

In a letter to head teacher Deborah Henley, Ms Vale said: “Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time the school is making satisfactory progress in addressing the issues for improvement and in raising the pupils’ achievement.

“Pupils’ achievement, particularly in reading and writing across the school, is improving.

“Standards in English and mathematics are improving and are closing the gap on previous underachievement.

“Pupils are starting to take a more active part in reviewing their own work, although this varies from year to year. Improvement has been supported through a number of initiatives including a thorough review of the curriculum.

“There has been an increased emphasis on the teaching of basic skills including the teaching of letters and sounds and pupils are consistently encouraged to apply their sounding-out skills to help spell difficult words and improve their reading and writing.

“One-to-one tuition has also supported pupils’ achievement in both English and mathematics.”

She added: “The quality of teaching is improving, despite the considerable number of changes within staffing. Some year groups have experienced three different teachers in the last seven months due to difficulties in recruiting and retention.

“Teachers’ expectations have been raised through both training and the introduction of clearly laid-out expectations for all staff, including work on planning, challenge, differing teaching styles and sharing good practice.

“More rigorous monitoring of lessons by the headteacher and senior leadership team, and involvement from the governing body, are having a positive effect on improvement.”